Page 69 of Smoke and Mirrors

His orders were given by his mother.

Shit!

“But this doesn’t make any sense? Why would we be the aggressors?” Kace asks, furrowing his brows so tightly together they join.

She stands and takes a deep breath as she begins to pace around the dining area. “People like power and fear. You make people fear you, you gain all the power.”

Kace shakes his head like he’s battling the thoughts inside his head. “But The Agency is about peace, not power?”

She tilts her head frowning. “Is it?” She walks toward him, swaying her hips slightly as she steps up to him. Standing directly in front of his knees, he looks up at her as she sighs. “There’s so much you don’t know. I could tell you.” She moves her finger out and runs it along his arm, then up to his cheek. He flinches as she smiles. “But it would cost you.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me?” I murmur under my breath.

Kace abruptly stands from his seat and takes a step back from Yana and her flirtations. “I know what you’re selling, and we aren’t buying.”

Yana smiles. “Oh, c’mon, Kace. Remember that time in Prague when we were trapped in that freezer, and we only had our bodies to keep us warm? You remember… don’t you?” she asks, and my eyebrows raise in complete jealousy.

Kace screws his face up and huffs. “Yes. Only because I needed you alive.”

She chuckles. “Oh, I was alive, all right. My whole body was alive that night,” she says, stepping closer to Kace and pushing out her fake breasts accentuating her amazing body.

I almost gag on the spot. Fuck my life! She’s so stunning, and she’s throwing herself at Kace, and I’m here watching it all unfold like a voyeur. It’s like I’ve stepped into a porno.

“Can you just give me something solid, Yana?” Kace demands.

“You know how this works, Kace. This isn’t worth giving my life for. Unless I get something worthwhile in return?” She winks suggestively.

I hate this, so I do the only thing I can think of. “It’s time to go,” I call out, standing up suddenly drawing all the attention back to me.

Yana smirks as Kace furrows his brows and nods.

“Yeah, I think it is. Thanks, Yana. Don’t tell anyone we were here. Got it?”

She tilts her head and smiles, placing her hand over her chest and scoffing. “Oh, Kace… you hurt my feelings. You know I would never betray you.”

He flares his nostrils and nods. “Thanks, Yana, you’ve helped a lot.”

“I know, now go,” she says, picking her rifle back up and aiming it at us. I open my eyes wide and grab onto Kace as he rolls his eyes at Yana. He quickly runs his fingertips up my arm to soothe me and turns us. We walk out the door onto the porch, down the steps, and toward the van.

“Kace,” Yana calls out. He turns back to look at her. “Don’t come back.” Her voice is hard, and I can tell she means it. It sends a chill down my spine, and my stomach flips. I don’t like Yana, not one little bit. And it’s not just because she was hitting on Kace in front of me, she gives me the uber-creeps. He nods, then turns us, and we head for the van.

“Get in and buckle up, Lily,” he announces.

I don’t want to argue with him because right now, I just want to get out of here. So, I jump into the van and slam the door shut quickly behind me and click my seat belt into position. He slides in through the driver’s door and looks back at Yana. She stands on the porch and watches us leave, and I can’t help but think she’s opened up a can of worms with Kace.

The silence as we drive down the darkened road away from the cabin is eerily quiet, so I decide to break the tension.

“Well, that was…” I pause not being able to find the right word.

He turns to look at me, a worried expression on his face. “I didn’t sleep with her, Lily,” he says.

Instant relief hits me like a tidal wave. I know I have no right to be jealous, after all, it was way before me. But nevertheless, I want to scream and yell from the rooftops and dance in the streets that he hasn’t been with a slithering snake like Yana. However, I keep my face calm and shrug instead. “Doesn’t matter if you did,” I reply blasé.

He furrows his brows and keeps looking from me to the road then back again. “She was just trying to make you think that. She could see there’s more to us than meets the eye. She’s a bitch when she wants to be… she was trying to cause an issue between us. Yana wanted you to be jealous.”

Chewing on my bottom lip, I sag in relief. “You really didn’t sleep with her?”

He chuckles. “No, I didn’t.”

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